Yes mate, the 2016-2020 MBP's were buckets of junk. Want a good one? Get a brand new 14/16" M1 Pro/Max MBP, or a second hand pre-2016 Retina MBP. I have the 2015 15" MBP, and it's a gem, very few issues, and keeps on chugging on. I have earmarked to get a 16" M1 Pro MBP sooner or latter, so far the reviews are very positive. I'll be happy to wait and see if any issues pop up, but if my 2015 dies in the meantime, I'll be running down to the Apple store to pick up a new one.
As far as I can tell, the 2016-2020's were junk because it was long enough after Steve died that little Timmy was starting to believe his own press, and got cocky enough to think he could put his own stupid mark on Macs (combined w Jonny Ives' genius, without the tempering of Steve's genius reigning him in, was let run free with form over function). The result was, creative and corporate customers started to abandon the platform in droves. To timmy's credit, he did pull his head in, kick off the Apple Pro Workflow Team to get the Pro devices back on track with what that customers actually want, and start to fix things. The result is bringing Steve's genius A-series chips into the Macs (as was discussed before Steve left, so yep, the M1 is actually Steve's work, thankfully), sorting out the woeful heat management (via thicker chassis, beefier heat pipes and heat sinks, and bigger and quieter fans), bringing back the old keyboard, bringing back ports, and bringing back MagSafe.
Now all we need is a Pro Software Workflow Team to sort out the horrendous software quality control and feature wander that is a mess throughout the entire Apple ecosystem. If they can get that sorted, Apple might even be able to bring back the iconic "It just works" slogan. I'm not holding my breath though, as it appears as if someone in the top software management has some pics of timmy with that goat, and they are impervious to being fired. Regardless, the OS is at least good enough that you can get by with its quirks and bugs.
